Escaped Snake

[ArcticRain]

Am after some opinions here on whether the snake should be rehomed or not.

My stepson is 15 and has an adult corn which is about 5 and a half feet long. It is not poisoness or a constrictor but can carry salomenella on its skin.

We had issues with him not providing it with water, but this has picked up after we threatened to rehome if he didnt act more responsible. It is not handled no where near enough which is a welfare cocern to me. DH picked SS up on not shuting the tank properly previously. When you open the tank, the other side opens and you have to check its closed. He has a tank lock but doesnt use it.

Yesterday after they had all gone to school and work I jumped into the shower in the en suite leaving DD of 5 weeks in our room. Usually I leave her on the floor on the soft changing mat while in the shower as she is happy there. After this, I opened our bedroom door to find snake at the door, and about a foot of its body in the air. I dont like it, but can accept it in its tank, so this scared the hell out of me, and I managed to shut it in DD nursery after it moved in there.

What concerns me is if I had left our bedroom door open a jar, it would have been in our bedroom with DD while I was in the en suite. If she had been on the floor, it would have been on top of her.

The snake had also been downstairs because there was a poo trail. Not only could it have remained hidden for me and my DD to encouter later on, the dog could have gotten hold of it and killed it.

I would like to see it rehomed and know of some friends who we could consider, DH wont, saying im favouring my DD above the other children, and the catch he has now made for the tank should resolve it, but this is dependent on SS using it.

It scared the hell out of me, and I cant stop thinking how easy it could get to being around the baby. I so careful about the dog and cat, but feel I have no control over the snake.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes / typos, breastfeeding.

Compromise sounds good :)

Dear god, I showered while DS was newborn and on a mat on the floor. When else are you supposed to do it?!

PS you and hell should handle the snakes and get used to them, they wont hurt you :)

hellhas, I can manage to change its water if its at the other end of the tank, but seeing it roaming around free gave me the hebejebees! Not sure I can live in a house if its a regular occurance, i'd be a nervous wreak thinking I may wake up tucked up with a snake.

DS overfilled Taboo's bath recently then went out for the day. I had the unenviable job of trying to empty some of the water while she sat in the bath watching every move I made because DH was too wimpy to even attempt it. I'll admire her beauty from afar but I ain't holding her!

Beyond, I use to when it was a baby, but now I cant do it. I did try to be 'brave' and pick it up , but ran away crying like a child. My neighbour had to resuce me.

Jut thelook of snakes give me the heebeejeebees Although i had a masive python around my neck on holiday years ago.They fascinate me but if i came face to face with a snake out of its cage i'd FREAK.

• these day as i'm not so brave nowadays.

The baby issue is neither here nor there, I think. If you don't like it, and you're afraid of it, I don't see that it has a place in your household. You're the adult. SS can get a snake when he's the adult paying rent or mortgage on his own place.

If that had happened to me, the snake would have been gone by the time SS got home from school. Line up a local pet shop/snake lover now so that if it happens again, you can make a phone call and have the snake taken away immediately. It sounds like your SS has had enough chances.

My friend found a baby corn snake in a puddle in the rain in the big city I live. It died after a few months even though he took it to the vets, brought all the equipment etc. It was tiny and yellow.

Gawd blimey, don't people get aerated by anything to do with snakes!

Very sensible post by beyondthelimits. Sorry spaghetti, but that story is absolute bollocks. It's not whether a prey item will fit in the belly that's the problem for the snake; it's whether it will fit through the jaws. They do size up their meal to check whether it's too big, but they certainly don't do it by lying like a stick or wrapping round it - they do it by bumping it gently all the way around (sometimes multiple times) with their nose. If a large constrictor does that to you, then you really need to worry. I watched my two 10ft burmese pythons (long time ago now), do this hundreds of times.

There is a very small risk of salmonella; they carry it in the digestive tract, not on the skin (but there is a small risk if they've been sliding through their poo. I've been bitten several times and have kept snakes for 20 years (and frankly never bothered washing by hands after every handling) and have never had a problem. Used to sleep with one of the burmese pythons in the bed, too. If you were pregnant, then I'd say be extremely careful, but otherwise, it's a tiny risk.

The risk to your baby from a 5ft corn snake is virtually non-existent. Far more risk from a cat or dog, frankly. I can understand that it unnerved you OP, but neither you nor your baby were in any danger. The snake is definitely in danger from the dog though. Corn snakes are weak constrictors (as they are slender and not hugely muscular). They will constrict larger prey (small rat size) but will often just grab it and eat it without constricting.

I don't think there's a welfare or safety issue here, but it does sound as though you are looking for a reason to rehome the snake. I don't think that's cruel, since snakes don't form an attachment to people - I've had my royal python for 20 years and I can safely say she would neither notice nor care if she never saw me again. But I reckon your DSS is going to be gutted and resentful, and your DH isn't going to be too happy either.

By the way, the reason people are so rarely eaten by snakes is because we have fixed shoulders. In large animals, for instance a deer, the shoulders will flatten against the body, narrowing the diameter of the animal. Our shoulders don't do that, so the person has to be slight of build and the snake huge to manage it.

Stranded that is not true - the UK winter would kill it. They are from the warmer parts of the US.

Crabby, I decide to not rehome if it stays in its tank . We have a lock , and catches . It can't escape can it if SS ensures they are in place ? If not , then its no longer an issue .

OP do you think it would make a difference if you really read him the riot act? Tell him that you found it near the baby, that the dog almost killed it etc.? Tell him that you are going to be checking the cage every day and the next time you find it not properly fastened, the snake will be gone by the time he gets home?

I love that hellhasnofury has a snake named fluffy in her house!

I think the fact that it is a snake is kind of immaterial here. SS is not looking after his pet properly - whether it's a snake, a tarantula, a hamster or a guinea pig that is NOT fair on the animal.

I would definitely rehome it. Snakes are delicate and you don't have the same margin for error as with a sturdier beastie. It would be terribly sad if the snake dies as a result of neglect.

I had some friends with a corn snake and they handled it less and less as it got older - not because of any change on their side, but because the snake slept a lot more when it was older and much less amenable to being handled.

Unfortunately if the snake gets less and less active as it gets older and your SS increasingly less interested at the same time, it might be easier to rehome sooner rather than later.

Crabby we did . He was upset, as . I think we can put this instance behind us now . tbh I think I just panicked at seeing a loose snake around .

You're not favouring DD simply by wanting to ensure her safety (even if she is not at direct risk from the snake as people here have said). You should point out to your DH that even if SS was your own, you would still feel the same way, but would've probably already carried out actions to rehome it!

Oooh crabby my mum had 2 royal pythons! They died before I was born though, so over 20 years ago! Although one of them would only be handled by my mum, nobody else could. She wasn't as tame as the male. That's pretty much an attatchment isn't it?

Spaghetti hmmm that's an interesting one... my royal has always been exceptionally shy and reluctant to be handled. It's the reason I kept her - I could never feel confident that someone would be as gentle with her as I was, whereas my burmese were very different in temperament but both very bold. Having said that, the guy I rehomed my less sociable boy (burmese) with, said that he'd bitten him, which he'd never done with me. He was alright after that, but was a bit aggressive to start with. I guess you could argue attachment, but I think it's just familiarity with your scent. Neither of them would seek me out in comparison to others present, for instance, and my elderly girl that I still have now seems to actively prefer others to me - she'll definitely settle on some people immediately and just coil around them and stay, yet on others (and me, usually) will keep moving off. I think it's the heat; if you've good circulation and you're nice and warm then she'll curl up in a nook of you and settle down.

They're funny critters, without a doubt - so utterly far removed from our sphere of experience that it really gives you pause for thought about our reptilian brain. It's what fascinates me about them to be honest; the complete otherness of them!

OP I think you were totally right to read DSS the riot act and give him a good fright - it's not ok for you to feel scared in your own home. I hope that this gives him a wakeup call and teaches him to keep the critter contained. I have my one remaining girl (my royal) in a wooden box (vivarium) with a glass front (that swings open horizonally) which is kept in place by a bar across it that slides through two 'eyes' - the loop hooks, iyswim. It's a major thing to have to do, slide the bar every time, but because it's major, you can't really forget it. Would that help, do you think? I can send you a picture if that'd make it clearer.

OTOH, her male royal was ever so friendly, mum just used to 'wear' him and answer the door with him round her neck :o he liked to sit there with his chin resting on mums nose :) Monty he was called, and the female was Kaa, or whatever the snake out of The Jungle Book is called.

Although, saying that, she actually bit my mum a few times. So who knows?